6^th Sunday of Easter

Mass for the Conclusion of the 40^th Anniversary Year of St. Aidan’s Church Johnstone

1. As we move towards the feast of Pentecost and the end of the Season of Easter, the readings begin to talk of the Holy Spirit. The Apostles were anxious that new Christians should receive the gift of the Holy Spirit after baptism and we can recognise in today’s first reading an early outline of the ritual which the Church has employed to signify the gift of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation: the laying on of hands for the receiving of the Holy Spirit. We have been confirmed with the gift of the Holy Spirit and soon younger parishioners of St. Aidan will be confirmed using that same sacramental symbolism to signify the coming of the Holy Spirit to consolidate their baptismal initiation into Christ.

2. And in the Gospel we learn just why it is so important that the disciples and followers of Jesus should receive the Holy Spirit. Jesus, before his death and resurrection, assures his friends who were concerned and sorrowful about his imminent departure: “I shall ask the Father and he will give you another advocate, to be  with you for ever, that Spirit of truth, whom the world can never receive since it neither sees not knows him; but you know him, because he is with you, he is in you.” And significantly Jesus relates the Holy Spirit to the practical challenge of living out the Christian life: “If you love me you will keep my commandments…anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them will be the one who loves me.” Why does the Holy Spirit come to us? The Holy Spirit comes to us so that Christian life will be real. It will be translated into real and meaningful things like loving Jesus and keeping his commandments. Christian life can never be reduced to a vague, fuzzy, warm but ultimately vacuous pseudo-religion. Christian life is about loving and being faithful to God, to Jesus, to our vocation, to our spouse, to our family, to the Mass and the sacraments, to justice and to the duties of Christian life, and all this through thick and thin. And that is why the Lord sent the Holy Spirit from the Father to be our Advocate and our Helper.

3. This Mass marks the end of the 40^th Anniversary Year of the Opening of St. Aidan’s Church, Johnstone. A year ago today, I was with you for the start of that Anniversary Year, and I said this: “(At the time of its opening in 1967), St. Aidan’s was the 10^th new church opened in the Diocese of Paisley in 20 years. It was a time of growth. The unity of the Church was at that time an expanding unity. Forty years on, the task is different. Demographic changes, a falling birth rate and fewer priests mean that the unity of the church has to be consolidated. We have to make the most of our resources. And this will mean changes in Johnstone and elsewhere. St. Aidan’s will be called upon to play its part in facing the new challenges of the present and of the future. I am confident that the response of the parish today will be as generous as it has always been.”

4. And so it has proved, both in terms of changes and as regards your response. This 40^th Anniversary Year has been a most challenging and most significant year for this parish community. St. Aidan’s Parish and the former St. Anthony’s Parish have come together under the roof of this very fine church., and this not long after the merger of Our Holy Redeemer, Elderslie, with St. Aidan’s. So these have been years of no little change for the communities which now make up the parish community of St. Aidan’s. And, despite justifiable sadness and trepidation, and despite expected and probably some unexpected problems, all the signs are that things have gone well and the parish is going forward to fulfil its mission in this area. And I know that everyone, priests, parish councils, and parishioners have played their part impressively and with a real sensitivity to the good of this community, of this town and of the diocese. If you want to know if the Holy Spirit is a reality in our lives and in our communities, just look at your own recent experience as a parish, and I think that thankfully, humbly, joyfully, you and we will be able to perceive the Spirit of God at work among you.

St. Aidan’s. Johnstone

27^th April 2008